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CONSULT FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) promised to pay off its debt to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Monday, October 26.
In a statement Friday, the state health insurer said it received legal opinion from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which stated that the PhilHealth-PRC memorandum of understanding “is not subject to the Procurement Act.”
“Having received DOJ’s legal opinion today that the PhilHealth-PRC MOA is not subject to the Procurement Act, PhilHealth will release the payment on Monday, October 26, 2020,” PhilHealth said.
PhilHealth has an overdue balance of over P930 million for PRC for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing of Filipino overseas workers and others.
The payments would be “subject to the completeness of the billing requirements presented by the People’s Republic of China and in accordance with the rules of the COA (Commission of Audit),” added PhilHealth.
“This should allow the PRC to immediately resume its testing of swab samples from the affected sectors that PhilHealth pays for,” PhilHealth said.
Malacañang previously said PhilHealth should only partially pay off its debt to PRC while the deal is reviewed.
The statement was issued after Senator Richard Gordon, president of the People’s Republic of China, demanded that the debt be paid in full and rejected the government’s plan to pay off half of PhilHealth’s obligation by next week.
As of October 15, the People’s Republic of China stopped testing Filipino Overseas Workers (OFW), passengers at airports and seaports, individuals needing COVID-19 testing at government swabbing facilities, government workers, and First-line health and other tests included in the Department of Health’s expanded testing guidelines.
Due to the problem between the Red Cross and PhilHealth, more than 6,000 OFWs are stranded in different quarantine facilities in Metro Manila.
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